Stay With Me
by falldown
Summary: Just a romantic little Stefan/Caroline fic I'm working on
1. Chapter 1

Caroline awoke to the warm rays of sunlight touching her face. She didn't open her eyes, but instead reached out with her other senses and took in the scene around her. It was a Saturday morning. She should get up and face the day, but the presence next to her stopped her from moving. She could feel the warmth of his still form, though she wasn't sure if he was sleeping or not. She heard the sheets ruffle behind her, and a warm arm slipped around her waist.

"Good morning, Caroline," he whispered, his breath tickling her ear. A smile spread across her face, but she kept her eyes closed, pretending to be asleep. "I know you're awake," he continued, his hand moving towards the bottom of her shirt, he tugged at the edge, but did no more. Instead he placed a gentle kiss behind her ear. She let out a satisfied sigh, giving herself away.

"You really have to stop doing that," she said, opening her eyes and turning around to face him. He was smiling at her; his beautiful green eyes bore into hers.

"And why would I stop?" he asked.

"Because we're only meant to be friends…" she reminded him, reaching up and touching the tip of his nose with her index finger.

"Oh so, friends do this?" he asked, moving his hand up under her shirt, tracing her spine. She shuddered under his touch. "And this?" he said, moving his head in and covering the short distance between them, capturing her lips in his.

"No, that's the point," she managed to choke out, breaking away from his lips. "Friends don't do that… and we're friends…" she trailed off, her eyes moving from his and down to his lips. She watched as he moved his tongue over his bottom lip, and she bit hers in response. "Thank God we haven't had sex…" she trailed off, unable to move her eyes from his lips.

"We can always fix that," Stefan said, his voice was low and gravelly, she could tell that he wasn't joking when he said that.

"We can't," she protested, trying to wriggle out of his arms, but he held her there, not letting her move a fraction of an inch.

"Why not?" he whispered, turning his head and planting gentle kisses on her neck.

"Elena," she managed to blurt out.

"Elena is with Damon now, Caroline. She doesn't matter."

"You're still in love with her."

"I'm not."

"How can I know you're telling the truth?" she turned serious, he stopped kissing her and looked her in the eye.

"Because I am, Caroline. I haven't been in love with Elena for a long time. You can trust me."

She looked down, avoiding his gaze as tears filled her eyes. She hoped he wouldn't notice.

"Hey…" he spoke softly. He noticed. Of course he noticed, he could always see right through her. "Caroline. Look at me." She shook her head, but moved closer to him, laying her head on his chest so he couldn't see her face. She stayed there, listening to his heartbeat. "Caroline what's wrong? Did I say something..?"

"No. No it's not you," she said quietly, moving her hand to wipe the offending tears from her cheeks.

"Then what is it?" she could hear the worry in his voice and decided to just be honest. She moved to sit up, and his arms fell away. He sat up too, looking at her with concern in his eyes.

"It's just. We kiss, we cuddle, you stay with me and we sleep together, and we talk, but we don't have sex. I'm not complaining about that, by the way. It's nice to have someone not want to be in your pants the first time you hang out together." He listened, watching her. "It's just that I really, _really_ love spending time with you, Stefan. But every time you go and I'm left alone to think about everything, I can't help but feel like I'm just a rebound for you." She finished, and waited, staring at her hands in her lap.

"Caroline." He reached out and grabbed her hand in his, she didn't respond to his voice. "Caroline, for God's sake will you _please_ look at me." She looked up at him, his eyes were soft.

"What?"

"I'll admit, I haven't been entirely honest with you." Her eyes hardened, her mind immediately jumping to Elena, jealously filling her so quickly she was shocked at herself for having such feelings towards her best friend.

"You _are_ still in love with her."

"What? No! No, Caroline that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about you." Her jealously left her as quickly as it hand come, confusion taking its place.

"Me?"

"You."

"What about me?"

"You're my best friend. And I love spending time with you too," her heart sank at the word 'friend'. "A little too much. _Caroline_." He said her name again, commanding her to look at him, as her eyes had drifted back to her hands in her lap. "I like you, Caroline. More than a friend. I've been spending so much time with you because I like you. You understand me more than anyone else ever has. I cuddle with you because I like you. I stay the night because I like you." He leaned forward then, still holding her hands in his, and kissed her gently. Her heart skipped a beat, and it did not go unnoticed by either of them. "I kiss you because I like you. And I want to see if maybe one day we can be more."

"Really?" she asked, and his heart broke at the insecurity he saw in her eyes. He would never be the one to let Caroline Forbes down.

"Really. Caroline Forbes, you are not and never will be my rebound. You are much, much more than just a rebound to me."

"You're too good for me," she told him, relaxing now that she knew where they stood.

"No. You're too good for me. Now, can I take you on a date tonight?" he asked, his face serious.

"A date?" they had never been on a date together.

"Yes. A date. I want to do this properly. I want to woo you the way you deserve to be wooed." She smiled at him, wondering how they had managed to get to this point.

"I would love to go on a date with you, Mister Salvatore."

_I hope you like it! Please rate and review and tell me if you have any ideas or suggestions about what should happen next :)_


	2. Chapter 2

Stefan left a few hours later after breakfast, with a kiss on the cheek and a promise to return at 7:00 that night to take her on their date.

Caroline was beyond excited. As soon as she was sure he was gone, she climbed into the shower to begin the prepping and beautification that would be her entire afternoon. She scrubbed every inch of herself with her favourite body wash that smelled like vanilla. She washed her hair and cleansed her face. She stepped from the shower an hour later feeling very refreshed. Wrapping herself and her hair in two separate towels, she made her way to her closet where she picked out one of her favourite new dresses that she had been dying to wear. It was a very simple white dress that accentuated her best assets. Boobs and legs. She laid it out on her bed, and returned to her closet, this time looking for shoes. She picked out a pair of high heels that would go nicely with it, and satisfied with her choice of outfit, turned happily and continued on with her pampering. She changed into her nicest underwear, just in case anything were to happen, though she certainly wasn't planning on it. She gave herself a manicure, and spent two hours perfecting her hair and makeup. At 6:00 she put her dress and shoes on, made sure she had everything she needed in her clutch purse, and began pacing the length of her house.

She was nervous, though she wasn't sure why. It wasn't like she had never spent time alone with Stefan before. No. So why did she have butterflies in her stomach, and feel the need to check the time every 3 seconds?

At 6:39 she heard a light knock on the door. Her head snapped up and she stood, walking quickly to answer it. She pulled the door open to reveal Stefan standing there, looking very... hot. He had dressed up as well, and his hair had never looked sexier. She wanted to run her hands through it and kiss him right there, but decided she should probably save that for another time. He didn't speak for a moment, seemingly stunned. He cleared his throat and then spoke.

"Wow, Caroline. You look… amazing," he told her, his eyes roaming her body. She cleared her throat when he spent just a little too long looking at her legs and his eyes snapped back to hers.

"I'm sorry, I'm early. I can uh, go wait in the car if you're not ready to go yet."

"No, no. I'm ready," she smiled at him, amused by his apparent inability to keep his eyes off her.

"Alright then, let's go." He offered her his arm, and she took it, following him to his car. He opened her door for her and shut it after her, a true gentleman. Stefan climbed into the drivers seat and started the car, she watched out the window as the houses sped by. It was about a minute before she realised that she had no idea where they were going.

"So where are you taking me?" she asked, trying for casual.

"It's a place outside of Mystic Falls. I didn't want to take you to the Grill," he told her. "It's one of my personal favourites, I hope you'll enjoy it."

"I'm sure I'll love it," she smiled.

The rest of the car ride was spent in comfortable silence, neither one of them feeling the need to fill the time with chatter.

They arrived at the restaurant soon after, and like a true gentleman he held her door open while she climbed out of the car, and walked her to the doors. He approached a desk with a waiter standing behind. A large sign on the front of the desk read "Please queue here to be seated."

"Hi, I have a booking for two for Salvatore," he told the man. He watched as the man glanced down at the clipboard in front of him and checked something off.

"Right this way sir, ma'am." They followed him into the restaurant. It was beautiful, and Caroline was immediately impressed. She had never been taken somewhere this nice by anybody before. True to his reputation, Stefan held her seat out for her before he sat himself, and thanked the waiter for the menus that he handed them both. Caroline looked through hers quickly, deciding she should order a pasta dish. Stefan didn't even open his menu, reciting his order to the waiter and waited for Caroline to choose.

"We'd also like the most expensive bottle of wine you have," Stefan told him, and Caroline raised her eyebrow quizzically. "It's not a date at a fancy restaurant without a nice bottle of wine," he told her once the waiter had left.

"I wasn't complaining," she said defensively, and he laughed at her.

"Caroline, I know I said it before, but you look really beautiful tonight."

She blushed at his words and looked down at the tabletop. "Thank you. You look very handsome yourself."

"Thank you."

The waiter returned quickly with their meals, they ate, the food was delicious, they drank, they ordered dessert, and they left the restaurant feeling full and tipsy. He drove her home, and held her hand as he walked her to her front door.

"I had a really great time tonight, Stefan. Thank you so much. Nobody has ever really taken me on a _real_ date before, and it was so lovely."

"You're welcome, thank you for agreeing to go out with me."

"I would never turn down somebody as hot as you," she told him.

"Is that right?" he asked. She nodded quickly, giggling. All the wine she had was making her slightly flirtier than usual. "So, if I were to, say," he stepped closer to her, his voice dropping an octave as he did so, "ask you on another date, you would agree?" His green eyes bore into hers, and suddenly her mind went blank. She stepped backwards in an effort to break away, to be able to think coherently, but she found herself against the wall of her house. Trapped.

"I guess you could say that," she managed to say, and gasped as he stepped closer again, his body less than an inch from hers. She could feel his body heat and was once again overwhelmed with the desire to kiss him, her heart beating furiously against her ribs.

"Will you do me the honour of going on a second date with me, Miss Forbes?" He reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. His hand lingered, brushing her collarbone as he let it fall to his side. She nodded helplessly, wishing he would just kiss her already or let her go inside so that she could breathe again. She loved and hated that he had this effect on her. He held her in his eyes for another long minute before he abruptly stepped away, releasing her.

"Thank you for the wonderful evening," he said, and turned to walk back to his car.

Caroline stood there, her mouth open. He was just going to leave? No kiss? No chance to invite him inside?

"That's it?" she exclaimed in disbelief. He turned around to face her at the bottom of her porch steps.

"Is what it?" he asked, a confused expression on his face, but she could see the amusement in his eyes. Once she recognised this, she quickly shut her mouth and straightened up. Two could play at that game.

"Okay then. Goodnight Stefan," she said seductively, and turned and walked as sexily as she could straight through her front door, slamming it and locking it behind her. Leaving him standing at the bottom of her porch, looking after her in amazement.

There was one thing that Stefan learned that night about Caroline Forbes: Do not tease her unless you are ready to face the consequences.

_I hope you like it! Please review :)_


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